news A groundbreaking ceremony will take place next Monday, May 12 to kick off a project that will transform the look of Alexandria’s downtown.
Work will begin that day to reconstruct Broadway, between 3rd and 8th Avenue.
The ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. in the Downtown Liquor parking lot. It’s...
Alexandria, 56308

Alexandria Minnesota 225 7th Ave E P.O. Box 549 56308

2014-05-07 00:00:50

A groundbreaking ceremony will take place next Monday, May 12 to kick off a project that will transform the look of Alexandria’s downtown.

Work will begin that day to reconstruct Broadway, between 3rd and 8th Avenue.

The ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. in the Downtown Liquor parking lot. It’s organized by the city and the Redesigning of Alexandria’s Downtown (ROAD) Committee.

Detours signs are expected to be placed late Sunday night. There will be truck route detours set up around the city on County Roads 45 and 46. There will be local street detours set up on Fillmore and Hawthorne Streets.

Although there won’t appear to be much activity, the first week of construction will involve removing the existing asphalt and concrete pavement, removing electrical foundations and underground utilities and excavating the roadbed.

The installation of new underground utilities will begin the following week and is scheduled to be completed by the second week of June.

The four-and-a-half block project will include rebuilt roads and infrastructure, along with new sidewalks and features like landscaping and decorative benches and light posts.

The road construction project will be completed in three phases this summer. This is the preliminary plan:

● PHASE I: The project will start on Monday, May 12 at the north end of Broadway Street, near the National Guard Armory, between 3rd and 4th Avenues and it will progress southward from that point to 6th Avenue. This phase is expected to run through July 3.

● PHASE II: During the month of July, construction will focus on the 6th Avenue intersection.

● PHASE III: During August and September, this phase will include work on the section from 6th to 8th Avenues.

The substantial completion date target is October 3; final completion date is October 17. All downtown businesses will be open during the construction.

Al Edenloff is the news and opinion page editor for the Echo Press. He was born in Alexandria and lived most of his childhood in Parkers Prairie. He graduated with honors from Moorhead State University with a degree in mass communications, print journalism. He interned at the Echo Press in the summer of 1983 and was hired a year later as a sports reporter. He also worked as a news reporter/photographer. Al is a four-time winner of the Minnesota Newspaper Association's Herman Roe Award, which honors excellence in editorial writing.